The Emerald Gauntlet
by the-alibi
Summary: will and lyra are searching for each other once again. crossing and communicating between worlds, the fate of millions of lives and the love of a lifetime are at stake. (does contain a willlyra relationship)
1. The Bench

Lyra woke with a start. She had been dreaming about her father, once again. She was drenched in sweat, and got up to change her nightgown. Pantalaimon stirred at the foot of the bed.

It looked like early morning, so Lyra saw no need to go back to sleep. Pan got up and stretched.

"You've been dreaming about Lord Asriel again, haven't you," he remarked with a yawn.

"Come on. We're going for a walk," said Lyra briskly.

Without another word, Pantalaimon leapt off the bed and followed Lyra down the sleeping hallway of Jordan College. They neared the door that led to the gardens.

"We're not going to the bench, now, are we?" Pan complained, "It's freezing out there!"

Lyra kept her pace. The door was less than five feet away. Beyond that door, in the back of the gardens was a bench. This bench, where she once sat with her best friend and first love, Will, was where Lyra sat to think. She frequently visited if she was having a hard time with her studies or in trouble with one of the many occupants of Jordan.

Lyra reached for the door handle. It groaned, she winced. _I hope no one's awake,_ Lyra thought desperately. Many a time had she been caught and punished for being caught on one of her night romps around the college. _I need to figure out what these dreams mean._

About once a month, since she had returned to Oxford, she would have these strange dreams. They all consisted of a revisit to the Realm of the Dead, but instead of searching for Roger, she was searching for her father.


	2. Pyxis

Sorry I haven't updated in a while. I was having MAJOR writer's block. But I'm back now! Please R&R!

Disclaimer: I own not, you sue not (these are not my characters, so… don't sue me!!)

"What are you doing?!" hissed a voice from the corner. Lyra recognized it as Mrs. Lonsdale, her former nanny.

"Oh, I couldn't sleep, and I en't eaten in hours, so we was going to the kitchen to get something to eat, but we heard something and followed it down the corridor and…" Lyra babbled.

"Enough, I don't mind if you were hungry and couldn't sleep. That doesn't give you any reason to go snooping around the college. I'll let you off this time, but be mindful not to do it again." Mrs. Lonsdale said and went down the passage clucking her tongue.

Lyra exhaled deeply. They went through the door and into the lush garden. It really was cold. Lyra picked up Pantalaimon and he curled around her neck, instantly warming her. They threaded through the maze of gardens, finally stopping at the back of the central garden. The Bench was covered in creepers. Lyra could tell that the gardeners hadn't been out there in a while. The rose bushes had over grown, and Creeping Jennies had strangled most of the other plants.

Lyra sat on the cold stone bench. _What should I do?_ She thought to herself. _Will would know…_

"Look up!" Pantalaimon whispered.

Sitting on a branch of an overhanging tree sat a small animal with great golden eyes. Leaves rustled in the branches above the creature. Lyra saw a pair of legs, a torso, and finally the head of a young girl, about Lyra's age.

"We'll go," said the mysterious girl as she climbed down the tree with ease. Her daemon, a monkey Lyra could now tell, dropped down to perch on the girl's shoulder.

"no, wait," said Lyra clambering off of the bench.

"really, we'll go. Just don't tell anyone." The girl was backing away slowly. Her tiny monkey sat watching Pantalaimon wearily.

"please, we just--," Lyra stuttered. But the girl and daemon were off like a flash. Running and leaping over bushes and other obstacles.

"Come on Pan!" yelled Lyra, starting off after the strange pair.

"Wait…I…" Pantalaimon caught up to Lyra, leapt up her slim figure and onto her shoulders.

They were out of the gardens by then. The girl was threading her way through Oxford with the practiced ease of a townie. But the girl, being a bit heftier than Lyra, couldn't keep up the fast pace for long. Lyra caught up within minutes. The girl slowed to a stop, turned around, and crouched in the stance of a practiced fighter.

"Look, just leave us be," she said raising her fists, "we're out of your garden. Just go away!"

"I don't want to fight," stated Lyra, but as soon as the words were out of her mouth, the monkey leapt at Pantalaimon with a screech of malice.

The grungy form of the monkey was all over Pan's auburn figure. They were scrabbling so fast, there was no way to tell who was winning. Suddenly, the monkey was flung across the road.

"Pyxis!" cried the girl, running over to her fallen daemon.

"Pan? PAN, are you alright?" Lyra rushed over to Pantalaimon. He had a long gash the length of his left hind-leg. The monkey, however, looked much worse. There was a long cut across his head and another on his vulnerable stomach. The girl was sobbing over Pyxis' body.

"Look what you done!" she screamed at Lyra.

It took five minutes for the girl to calm herself. When she had controlled her crying to only a trickle, she knelt over her daemon and placed her hands across his wounds. A white light gathered around them, so bright that Lyra had to turn her face away.

The next she saw, the lively monkey was nuzzling the girl's face, slumped in the gutter. Lyra was at her side in a second.

"Wha…what's wrong with her Pan?" Lyra's voice was quavering.

"it looks like she's unconscious," replied Pan from a few feet away.

The monkey was lying by the girl's head. "She gets very tired after she's healed," said a strange, small voice. Lyra and Pantalaimon looked at the monkey. "She just needs to rest," said Pyxis.


End file.
